Local organizations that help feed people in the Cowichan Valley have noticed a sharp increase in demand over the last year, and are struggling to find funds to fill the gap.
The number of food hampers being distributed to clients of the Cowichan Valley Basket Society food bank has doubled over the last year, says manager Henry Wikkerink. About 1,000 people access food through the hamper program every month. Clients of all ages and demographics access services at the Basket Society, and Wikkerink says he’s noticed an increase in seniors and young families accessing hampers and hot lunches.
The society is expanding its services and considering new funding sources to meet the demand. Other local organizations dedicated to local food security are noticing similar trends.
The Cowichan Green Community saw a funding boost in the first years of COVID-19 pandemic, says executive director Judy Stafford, but it wasn’t meant to last forever. Now, grants and funding are decreasing despite the growing need for programming such as meal delivery for seniors, food recovery programs, urban and community farms and more.
Stafford says there needs to be a solution so nonprofits working on food and nutrition security are less reliant on grants and can have more sustainable funding that allows them to plan ahead.
“It’s the mentality shift of ‘we’re going to have to be much more self-reliant and we can’t wait for these large government announcements to then take a year or two to land,’” Stafford says.
Read more: The Discourse’s Food for Thought series
South Island sees highest food costs in province
According to the BCCDC, “Household food insecurity is when a household worries about or lacks the financial means to buy nutritious, safe, personally acceptable foods.”
One in seven households and one in six children in the province experience food insecurity, according to Island Health. The average monthly cost for a family of four to access nutritious food is $1,366 across regions served by Island Health. That’s on par with the South Island, at $1,368, where food spending is highest in the province.
Systemic issues such as the economy, environment, social issues and geography all contribute to food insecurity. Lack of nutrition can impact mental and physical health and lead to issues such as depression, cognitive impairment, substance use disorders, eating disorders, malnutrition and more. The BCCDC says health care costs for adults experiencing food insecurity increase by up to 76 per cent.
New clients accessing food bank for hampers, hot lunches, daytime shelter
At the Cowichan Valley Basket Society, Wikkerink says more seniors have been accessing services such as hot lunches and hampers as their income no longer allows them to afford nutritious meals.
“They’re struggling with rent, particularly in the last number of years with it going up so much,” Wikkerink says. “And then the seniors are suffering because their paychecks or pension haven’t been adjusted much.”
This past month, the Basket Society provided close to 600 food hampers to people, and previous months have seen similar numbers. This is significantly more than the usual 200-to-300 hampers given out per month in previous years.
Wikkerink says the food bank is also consistently seeing new registrations from people who haven’t used their services before, or are coming back after many years of not using them. He says many of those registrations are from young families.
The value of food that the Cowichan Valley Basket Society gives out per month is between $75,000 to $85,000, and they’re supported largely by community donations and government grants. Food also comes from food recovery programs that divert potential food waste at local businesses.
The number of people coming to the food bank for a hot lunch has also increased over the last year, with many people taking their lunch to-go to sit outside under a new warming tent that has been set up at the Basket Society thanks to funding from the “A Place to Be” initiative. The tent allows for a space for people experiencing homelessness to socialize, warm up and enjoy a meal while also keeping an eye on their belongings.
Increased demand plus a desire to keep the tent outdoors running and a goal to pay staff a living wage is prompting the Cowichan Valley Basket Society to pursue new sources of funding, Wikkerink says.
“Up until this point, we haven’t had too much in the way of professional fundraising events because food banks are pretty well supported,” Wikkerink says. “But we are definitely starting to consider it more. And part of that is because we’re actually doing more here.”
Food insecurity is rooted in insufficient income
The root of food insecurity is low household incomes, according to the BCCDC. As cost of living and food prices skyrocket, those with lower incomes are less likely to be able to afford nutritious and culturally appropriate foods.
“It’s an income-based problem, so it would be really neat to look at income-based solutions,” says Janet Krenz, a Cowichan-based public health dietician working with Island Health.
While food banks provide an important service to many in the community, Krenz advocates for income-based and community-based solutions that help reduce the need for people to access food banks.
Some of those solutions could look like local government support to make growing food easier in communities. Zoning can be changed to allow for community garden spaces or backyard chickens, Krenz says. Programming to help people learn how to grow and process food is also a way to address food insecurity. Gardens and fruit trees at schools can also support youth to learn about food and provide students with healthy, nutritious foods.
“I think collaborating more and looking at: what are the barriers to growing more food? Maybe it’s some land-sharing, allowing Indigenous people to do more harvesting of native foods on municipal lands. More education,” Krenz says.
She also points to a Food Forum that took place in November at the Vancouver Island Regional Library as an example of a good way to educate community members about growing and processing foods. Events like this, combined with policy changes and support can help address food insecurity even when people’s incomes may not allow them to buy nutritious foods at the grocery store.
More funding needed to support local food security programs
Krenz also points to programming that the Cowichan Green Community runs as part of the solution to address food insecurity. From kids camps and urban gardens to food recovery and the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Coupon program, the organization has been innovating ways to increase access to food that is grown and produced locally.
But Stafford says grant funding has become harder to find and apply for. Many grants are targeted towards specific causes, like youth mental health or senior’s services. She says the Cowichan Green Community doesn’t fall under these specific categories, but the work it does in food security supports better health outcomes for community members, including youth, seniors and Indigenous people.
“We work with a lot of youth with mental health struggles because they show up to our programming,” Stafford says. “In one program, 60 per cent of our participants are First Nations” Stafford says.
But this can go unrecognized when its programs aren’t geared specifically to certain demographics, she adds.
“We do Meals on Wheels for seniors, but we’re not a seniors organization. But we certainly support a lot of seniors. We support people with disabilities at our inclusion gardens,” Stafford says. “Even though our one focus is food security, we do it through 100 different things.”
Funding boosts in response to COVID-19 were helpful but not sustainable.
“This was short-term funding. At the time, I knew that that wasn’t going to just be a free-for-all forever,” Stafford says. “But it did seem to heighten the awareness of the lack of food access and dramatic increase in food insecurity. So it kind of got us a little bit excited that we’ve been doing this work for 20 years and all of a sudden, there’s this recognition.”
While food insecurity is still being acknowledged as an issue and the awareness still seems to be there, Stafford says people may not know to what degree people are experiencing food insecurity.
Organizations like United Way and the Vancouver Foundation have received millions of dollars in funding to support food security initiatives from the province, but Stafford says that by the time the money reaches the people who actually need it, the pot has gotten smaller and a significant amount of time has passed.
The money has to go through these organizations to be distributed to local ones, Stafford says, and some of it is used on administrative and organizational work. While Stafford says Cowichan Green Community is still grateful for any funding it receives, the organization is also trying to figure out how to be more self-reliant and sustainable.
One solution, Stafford says, is to enter a service contract with a local government like the CVRD, but the implication would be higher taxes for community members.
Community members can support local organizations like Cowichan Green Community by volunteering or by spending money at programs run by the organizations. The KinPark Kids Camp, reFRESH Marketplace, Cow-Op online Farmers’ market and plant or seed sales put on by Cowichan Green Community are examples of how people can access what they need while also supporting local food security, Stafford says.
